Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival has revealed to Variety the projects that the participants of its 2024 Emerging Producers program are working on. The producers were asked to deliver an elevator pitch for their projects.
Every year since 2010, the festival has selected 18 up-and-coming producers of documentary films (17 European and one representing a non-European guest country), who are then provided with educational, networking and promotional support.
The Emerging Producers portal features a map with more than 200 profiles of the program’s alumni.
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The next cohort of Emerging Producers will be revealed at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Sunday.
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Here are the pitches from the 2024 contingent:
“Green Is the Fire’s Tint” (working title)
Producers: Cristina Haneș, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe for NoCut Film Collective (India, Romania, Italy)
Directors: Cristina Haneș, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe
Genre: Creative documentary
Synopsis: Somi (37), an indigenous woman, faces eviction from her land due to the opening of an iron mine. A few years ago, Somi was an armed Naxalite rebel; now, she’s determined to lead her community in resisting the violation and fighting against displacement and deforestation—this time without her rifle.
Pitch: In a marginalized and precarious place of resistance, Somi, an indigenous woman and former revolutionary, defends her ideals of equality and dignity while confronting disillusionment and social injustice. The film is a sequel to “A Rifle and a Bag” (IFFR 2020, Special Mention of the Jury).
“The Story of the Wild Rose”
Producers: Liis Nimik, Klara Films (Estonia) and Mónica Hernández Rejón, Pråmfilm (Sweden)
Directors: Kristen Aigro, Miguel Llansó
Genre: Creative documentary
Synopsis: Accidentally purchased Mexican telenovela takes Estonia by storm in early post-Soviet years and reaches viewership records that remain unchallenged to this day. How did this simple and wild fairytale from a faraway land capture the hearts of reserved Estonians and accompanied the tumultuous transition from collectivism to individualism?
Pitch: Doesn’t life nowadays look like a soap opera? Reality show characters are running the world. This film starts as a documentary but slowly takes the form of a telenovela. We have collected 300 stories from ordinary people who remember the absurdity of life in early 90s Estonia while “Rosa” was on air.
“The Last Misfits by the Golden River”
Producer: Isabella Karhu, Danish Bear Productions Oy (Finland)
Director: Juho-Pekka Tanskanen
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: In Northern Lapland, far away from roads and telephone networks, lives the last community of gold miners in Finland. Their peaceful lives are filled with the rumble of machines and the quietness of nature, but everything changes when a new mining law forces them to abandon their way of life.
Pitch: Gold mining in Lapland started decades before the Klondike Gold Rush, and still, after 160 years, the tradition has been ongoing – until now. Yet while facing the end of their era, the miners still maintain their philosophy of life being both funny and sad – and worth living as you like.
“Adam’s Tooth”
Producer: Mariam Chachia, OpyoDoc (Georgia)
Director: Mariam Chachia, Nik Voigt
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: In 2022, Georgian archaeologist Giorgi Bidzinashvili discovered a 1.8-million-year-old tooth in Orozmani, Georgia. Despite international interest, the tooth remains “arrested” after two years of bureaucratic delays. Armed with two chairs, placards, and tea, Bidzinashvili and his colleague wait in a Kafkaesque vigil, uncertain of the future of their groundbreaking find.
Pitch: This film depicts a David vs. Goliath struggle at an archaeological site where one man’s Kafkaesque quest to uncover human origins faces bureaucratic sabotage. Investing in this project will not only help tell a human origin story but also draw international attention, pressuring decision-makers to unlock the site’s potential.
“Reflexion”
Producer: Mónica Hernández Rejón, Pråmfilm AB (Sweden)
Director: Farah Yusuf & MyNa Do
Genre: Creative documentary
Synopsis: Childhood friends MyNa and Farah form the artistic duo Mahoyo. With art as a limitless force, they explore questions of identity and belonging within the highly segregated Swedish society. As we follow their journey, we get closer into the growth of far-right movements in Sweden, but also into the uprising of a generation of young Swedes creating political change.
Pitch: Reflexion explores the dynamics of segregation and social belonging in Sweden, which is an urgent topic today as conservative movements and far-right extremism are growing and sweeping across Europe. This film tells the story of the people facing this issue from an intimate perspective and through a playful artistic language.
“H for Hoax: The Phantasmagorically True Story of the Stone Age Tasadays”
Producers: Kristine Kintana, Kamias Overground (Philippines), Achinette Villamor, Khavn Company, Stephan Holl, Rapid Eye Movies (Germany)
Director: Khavn
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: In 1971, the Philippines shocked the world when a primitive stone-age tribe — the Tasaday — was found in the rainforests of Mindanao. National Geographic and other international media feasted on the discovery. While considered by some as the biggest anthropological hoax ever, the Tasaday continue to spark debate about reality and authenticity.
Pitch: This is a timely story. In this age of massive social media use, the Tasadays can be considered precursors to present realities, where facts have easily become interchangeable with propaganda. This makes the Tasaday story a sobering look at the power of the media to transform perceptions, and a reminder that the truth is seldom simple.
“KnAM, a Theatre in Exile”
Producers: Orlane Dumas, Les Films de l’AubeSauvage (France), La Casquette Productions (France)
Director: Lionel Retornaz
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Following the invasion of Ukraine, the KnAM Theatre, after 37 years of activity, left Russia for good and settled in Lyon, France. Tania, Dima and German, each from a different generation, try reinventing themselves both humanly and artistically while dealing with the raw reality of exile.
Pitch: Knam highlights the work of artists in a globalized world where some leaders want to re-establish borders. In the East, Putin is re-elected. In the West, Trump is preparing for November. In France, the ultra-right is doubling its number of deputies. Let’s remember that art is what resists.
“Chess Behind Bars”
Producers: Kaleo La Belle, La Belle Film (Switzerland), Anita Norfolk, Folk Film (Norway), Eline Van Wees, Basalt Film (Netherlands), Dirk Manthey, Dirk Manthey Film (Germany)
Director: Ivo Zen
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Through the game of chess, we are introduced to various inmates and prisons around the globe who compete nationally and internationally. With each move, they search for strategies to move beyond their past and recapture their future.
Pitch: In prisons around the globe, inmates train for a chess world championship for the incarcerated. While the prisoners hone their skills, we are confronted with disparate approaches to rehabilitation and witness how the life skills that chess teaches can offer inmates a chance towards a new path or even freedom.
“Panic Button” (working title)
Producers: Veronika Janatková, Pandistan (Czech Republic), Samara Sagynbaeva, Media Hub (Kyrgyzstan)
Director: Samara Sagynbaeva
Genre: Documentary film, investigation, personal view
Synopsis: In “Panic Button,” the director follows her husband Ali Toktakunov and his fight for independent media in Kyrgyzstan in a post-Soviet context. He challenged the ruling class by exposing an unprecedented case of corruption within the government. What risks must one journalist take to fight for freedom and democracy in the country?
Pitch: “Panic Button” discusses freedom, the value of public good, and free speech in the face of sacrifice of the private life of one family. And corruption with a lack of accountability – is something common to nearly every form of government – not just Kyrgyzstan or the post-Soviet space.
“Kind of Adults”
Producers: Rita Balogh, Other Films (Hungary), Gül Togay, Filmsquad (Hungary)
Directors: Rita Balogh, Peter Akar
Genre: Coming-of-age documentary
Synopsis:
What is our responsibility in irresponsibility? A testimonial documentary about the emotional roller coaster called “growing up,” that for five years follows the life of a group of adolescents who graduate together from the same high-school class.
Pitch: For five years, as the world is changing rapidly, we have been constantly surprised by how much we can learn from our characters. This project can really break the boundaries between generations and shed a new light on our lives as well, by creating a sense of anxiety as the film unfolds, reflecting the uncertain and often turbulent journey of growing up.
“Termites Have Wings of Approximately the Same Length”
Producers: Svetislav Dragomirović, Gray Tree Film (Serbia), Nevena Savić, Cinnamon Films (Serbia)
Director: Svetislav Dragomirović
Genre: Feature fiction/drama
Synopsis: While fighting a termite infestation that’s destroying their home, Petar and Hana must come to terms with the decision to terminate an unplanned pregnancy.
Pitch: In a house plagued by voracious termites, Petar and Hana confront the shattering reality of an unplanned pregnancy. As the relentless insects devour their home, the couple must navigate a labyrinth of emotions and decisions, intertwining their struggle with nature’s destruction and the weight of impending life choices. The film blends personal and emotional drama with the tension of a home crisis.
“Fixing the War”
Producers: Oleksandra Kravchenko, Moon Man (Ukraine), Gary Lennon, Plainsong Films (Ireland), Pauline Tran Van Lieu, Hutong Productions (France)
Directors: Vadym Ilkov, Clare Stronge
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: “Fixing the War” follows the ordinary Ukrainians who – through economic necessity, idealism or chance – find themselves working as “fixers” for hard news journalism and war correspondents as their home is transformed into a living war zone and their war leaves the front pages.
Pitch: With this film, we wish to explore war reporting, but from the unique point of view of the fixers – local people who are indispensable yet invisible in the process. In the era of fake news and the undermining of the very concept of truth, we are offering a reflection on testifying from the war zone.
“World of Walls”
Producers: Matej Sotník, Guča Films (Slovakia), Klára Mamojková and Wanda Kaprálová, Claw (Czech Republic), Kristian Van der Heyden, Harald House (Belgium)
Director: Lucia Kašová
Genre: Creative documentary
Synopsis: To evoke and imagine the near future, “World of Walls” is set in an environment of extreme social divisions and escalating climate crisis. People knew these catastrophes were coming but ignored the fact. The dystopian reality is revealed through the eyes of two girls living on opposite sides of the wall.
Pitch: Our sci-fi documentary takes place in an unspecified country that is being destroyed by on-going environmental disasters, located in today’s South Africa. The rich are living inside strictly protected luxury estates with secure infrastructure, while the rest of the world survives on scarce resources.
“The Slugs”
Producers: Adrianna Rędzia, Lumisenta Film Foundation (Poland), Kristian Van der Heyden, Harald House (Belgium)
Director: Katarzyna Gondek
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Marry went through war, Zofia went through communism, and Zuza is starting her grown-up life in the brand new capitalism. Marry and Zofia – her mother and grandmother – are both dead, and are now ghosts. It does not help that they are both naked, like all ghosts in this world.
Pitch: Our film will tell the story of three generations of women who see themselves as good and kind, but by discovering the darker parts of their beings, they can connect deeper to themselves and to each other. It’s an intimate, feminine and unique ghost story told by women themselves.
“House of Shadows”
Producers: Thomas Kaske, Kaske Film (Germany), Boualem Ziani, Libre Image (Algeria), Emilie Dudognon, IDA.IDA (France), Svetislav Dragomirović, Gray Tree Film (Serbia)
Director: Amine Hattou
Genre: Creative documentary, ghostly horror, history, character-driven
Synopsis: “House of Shadows” follows two fathers and their children in Laghouat, Algeria, exploring how colonial history shapes their lives. Through a cinematic lens inspired by horror, the film delves into enduring trauma of colonialism, highlighting the resilience and unyielding spirit of the town’s inhabitants.
Pitch: “House of Shadows” blends horror and documentary genres to explore Algeria’s colonial trauma. Its innovative approach offers a fresh perspective on historical scars and resilience. Our strong co-production structure invites partners to help bring this powerful, thought-provoking story to the world.
